by Errin Haines for The nineteenth
With 70 days to go till Election Day, Vice President Kamala Harris is now inside putting distance of turning into America’s forty seventh president.
For some, the second appeared implausible simply over a month in the past — and that was not misplaced on Harris as she accepted the Democratic Social gathering’s nomination for president.
“America, the path that led me here in recent weeks, was no doubt unexpected,” Harris advised voters Thursday, the ultimate night time of the Democratic Nationwide Conference. “But I’m no stranger to unlikely journeys.”
In file time, Harris has gone from operating mate to candidate, from neglected to plain because the Democratic Social gathering’s customary bearer.
The circumstances of Harris’ historic run, just like the 2024 election cycle, have been unconventional, a mix of luck — good and unhealthy — preparation, and an unprecedented political local weather. Now, for the second time in lower than a decade — and the second time ever — a girl is on the high of the ticket for a serious American political get together.
Biden’s choice to drop out, thrusting Harris into the marketing campaign and permitting her to trip a wave of pleasure and momentum, has created a state of affairs singular in American politics.
For a lot of causes, this couldn’t have occurred some other manner: In an citizens that has by no means made a girl president and solely as soon as gone for a non-White presidential candidate, many are all of a sudden excited a couple of candidate who’s a girl of shade, partially as a result of she holds each of those identities.
The bizarre nature of the race is a optimistic, stated Hillary Clinton, the 2016 Democratic nominee for president and the primary lady to win a serious get together’s nomination.
“A short campaign, a dramatic exit and entrance … I think all of that works to her advantage, because it captured the imagination of people,” Clinton stated. “The country is certainly paying attention to her. It’s a real tribute to her and the way that she just leapt onto the scene, took control of it, showed how effective she was from the very beginning.”
Clinton’s path to the nomination was not totally regular, both. Like others who’ve run for president, she was a former senator and secretary of state, however not like others, she was a former first woman. And he or she emerged as her get together’s decide after a contentious 2016 major election the place questions round her “likeability” dogged her candidacy.
Whereas vice presidents have typically gone on to hunt the highest job, Harris’ path is exclusive. She didn’t have to attend eight years after a failed major bid to run once more. She didn’t face off towards Democrats for the nomination, a course of that always can push candidates to the left, a possible legal responsibility in a common election, and open them as much as intense scrutiny from the press. As an alternative, Democrats obtained readability: a selection that isn’t solely about deciding whether or not to vote for the girl, however whether or not or not they’ll help their get together’s nominee.
That Harris is operating a marketing campaign lasting 107 days — and never the standard race that lasts greater than a 12 months and consists of an open major contest with potential challengers — has distinctive benefits and pitfalls.
Democratic strategist Karen Finney identified that the primary 48 hours, with Harris additionally doing the work of calling delegates and donors, was essential to setting a tone and making certain a easy course of. However, she added, the shorter timetable means Harris doesn’t have numerous room for error.
“There are people who wouldn’t have been able to step up that quickly and continue to win the day,” Finney stated. “But also, you don’t have a lot of time to recover from missteps.”
The collapsed timeline doesn’t give the candidate time to overthink or the nation time to fall into sexist patterns, which each have accomplished prior to now. And within the weeks since Harris has been his opponent, Trump has struggled to outline her, his conventional playbook of racial and gendered assaults falling flat.
“Donald Trump, for better or worse, has been quite good at getting things to stick to people,” stated Prairie View A&M College political scientist Melanye Worth. “The longer he repeats the things he says, the more likely it is that somehow, that starts to seep into the narrative of the nation. The less time he has to figure out how to effectively campaign against her, the better it’s going to be for her and more likely it’ll be that those on the fence voters won’t have time for his toxicity to metastasize.”
Harris and her marketing campaign have additionally been on offense, combating on floor she has outlined along with her messaging, shaping her personal narrative and imaginative and prescient by way of her marketing campaign occasions and on the conference. Nonetheless looming on the election schedule for Harris are two potential political challenges: a presidential debate presently scheduled for September 10 and her first sit-down press interview, which her marketing campaign has stated will occur by the tip of August.
These working to assist elect Harris, who’ve already been collaborating and strategizing however who now have a brand new candidate and recent power, see the rushed calendar as a plus.
“It’s kind of like there’s this sense of urgency that forces everyone to see that we have to dig deep for these next 10 weeks, that we have to go now,” stated Stefanie Brown James, co-founder and govt director of CollectivePAC, which works to elect Black candidates on the native, state and federal degree. “We’re seeing people want to know who this person is that’s causing all this excitement? What does she stand for? That’s something we can’t sleep on, and it’s going to take every ounce of us working every day for the next 10 weeks for us to be successful.”
In some ways, the story of Harris’ unlikely journey is one not simply of 107 days, however of the final 4 years, and about how far the candidate and the nation have come. A lot of that evolution occurred behind the scenes, when the media paid much less consideration to a task that has been historically unimportant.
However with a brand new alternative to introduce herself, after a nationwide counting on race, with girls persevering with to interrupt boundaries throughout society, might voters select Harris to interrupt what Clinton calls “the highest, hardest glass ceiling”?
Harris is making the case for why she is able to be president. Quickly, the nation will determine whether or not they consider she is prepared.
